The Unity of Religious Experience: An Analytic Reading of Friedrich Schleiermacher’s Second Speech On Religion
Kriterion – Journal of Philosophy June 1, 2023 DOI: 10.1515/krt-2023-0008 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Citations | 1 |
| Key points | Argues that religious experiences are contemplative experiences of the totality of being, following the early Schleiermacher, and proposes this account as an alternative to contemporary analytic philosophy of religion. The author claims it can construe religious plurality, stay neutral on metaphysical and moral debates, and explain links between religious intuitions, emotions, and art. |
Abstract
Abstract In this paper, I present a conception of individual religiousness in terms of religious experience. Using ideas of the early Friedrich Schleiermacher, I will claim that religious experiences are contemplative experiences of the totality of being. This understanding of religious experiences presents an alternative to how religious experience is often epistemologically thought about in the more contemporary analytic philosophy of religion. Furthermore, it has systematic advantages: It can construe religious plurality in terms of different ways to experience the totality of being, it stays neutral to metaphysical and moral debates such as whether there is a God whose laws we should obey, and it allows for an explanation of how religious intuitions and religious emotions relate to one another as well as of why religiousness and art often go hand in hand. Even though understanding religiousness in terms of contemplative experience also bears revisionary potential, I will discuss how more doxastic elements of religious people’s lives can be reintegrated into this picture.